site.btaBiodiversity and Agricultural Knowledge Network to Start in January 2025

A Biodiversity and Agricultural Knowledge Network will be launched in January 2025, said the Sofia Forestry University on Friday.

The project, known as FarmBioNet, will be led by Teagasc, Ireland's Agriculture and Food Development Authority, and funded under the EU Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. The Faculty of Ecology and Landscape Architecture of the Sofia Forestry University is a partner in the project.

The project aims to identify biodiversity-friendly practices in agriculture and help farmers create habitats that provide food, safety and shelter for biodiversity on their farms. The project will establish national agriculture and biodiversity networks involving farmers, foresters, researchers, NGOs, consultants and other stakeholders from the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems.

The networks will use areas of good biodiversity practice to promote exchange of traditional and science-based actions that support agricultural biodiversity through co-creation processes. The project will carry out a cost-benefit analysis to show how biodiversity can support sustainable food production.

The FarmBioNet project will last three years and will enable all farmers to understand how biodiversity-friendly their farm is and what easy, low-budget measures they can take to improve the overall biodiversity of their farm without negatively impacting productivity.